Aficionados of the Etch a Sketch will recall a certain flaw in the toy: If you use it often, some of the lines drawn no longer disappear when you shake the device, instead leaving an indelible trace of where you have been.
This is the problem Mitt Romney is encountering: He is shaking the device, trying to erase impressions left during this year’s primary contest. But he just can’t shake away the image of Russell Pearce.
Pearce, the former Republican president of the Arizona Senate, is the author and self-described “driving force” behind S.B. 1070, that state’s law — endorsed by Romney — cracking down on illegal immigrants. Pearce told The Post’s Felicia Sonmez this month that Romney’s “immigration policy is identical to mine,” and he told reporters this week that Romney “absolutely” gave him the impression that he saw the Arizona law as a national model.
President Obama’s job approval:
Mitt has no hope of defeating the President if Obama’s approval is 50 or more. Meanwhile, Mitt continues to prove that he is a historically weak nominee:
“Over the last 40 years there have been nearly 80 contests in which the presumptive Republican nominees played out the string after their last credible challenger exited the race. In every one of these contests, the GOP frontrunner won at least 60 percent of the vote, even when ex- and long-shot candidates remained on the ballot. But on Tuesday, Romney won only 56 percent of the vote in Delaware and 58 percent in Pennsylvania, home to Rick Santorum who dropped out on April 10th.”
POLLING GOODNESS
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One of these is not like the other:
NATIONAL–PRESIDENT (Gallup Tracking): Obama 49, Romney 42
NATIONAL–PRESIDENT (PPP): Obama 49, Romney 44
NATIONAL–PRESIDENT (Rasmussen Tracking): Romney 48, Obama 44)
… and for some reason….
TEXAS–PRESIDENT (PPP): Romney 50, Obama 43
NEW HAMPSHIRE–GOVERNOR (WMUR/Univ. of New Hampshire): Maggie Hassan (D) 34, Ovide Lamontagne (R) 29; Hassan 29, Kevin Smith (R) 24; Jackie Cilley (D) 31, Lamontagne 30; Cilley 30, Smith 23
NEW MEXICO–SENATOR (PPP): Martin Heinrich (D) 48, Heather Wilson (R) 43; Hector Balderas (D) 44, Wilson 43
VIRGINIA–SENATOR (Rasmussen): George Allen (R) 46, Tim Kaine (D) 45